Most modern cars are fitted with twin hydraulic circuits, with two master cylinders in tandem,

in case one should fail.

Sometimes one circuit works the front brakes and one the rear brakes; or each circuit works
both front brakes and one of the rear brakes, or one circuit works all four brakes and the other
the front ones only.

Under heavy braking, so much weight may come off the rear wheels that they lock, possibly
causing a dangerous skid.

For this reason, the rear brakes are deliberately made less powerful than the front.

Most cars now also have a load-sensitive pressure-limiting valve. It closes when heavy braking
raises hydraulic pressure to a level that might cause the rear brakes to lock, and prevents any
further movement of fluid to them.

Advanced cars may even have complex anti-lock systems that sense in various ways how the
car is decelerating and whether any wheels are

locking.

Such systems apply and release the brakes in rapid succession to stop them locking.